Golovkin stops Wade; Gonzalez defeats Arroyo

IBF/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) did what everyone expected him to do in destroying an over-matched Dominic Wade (18-2, 12 KOs) in two rounds after putting him down three times on Saturday night at the Forum in Inglewood, California. The referee Jack Reiss stopped the fight after Wade was slow in getting up after the second knockdown in the 2nd round.

Surprisingly, the fight was competitive for most of the 1st round. It was only in the final seconds of the 1st round that Golovkin knocked Wade down with a right hand rabbit shot to the back of the 25-year-old Wade’s head. Wade got back up but he was no longer effective after that point. The round ended after Wade got up.

In the 2nd round, Golovkin didn’t hesitate to knock Wade down again with another right hand. Wade looked groggy as he got back to his feet. He then had a short discussion with referee Jack Reiss and told him he wanted to continue. Golovkin then backed Wade up to the corner and landed a big right that sent him down on his backside. The fight was then stopped.

“There are one or two things I could have done differently but his power is real…he’s a great champion and does everything very well,” said Wade.

WBC flyweight champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (45-0, 38 KOs) says his 10-fight knockout streak end as he was extended for the full 12 rounds in beating #10 WBC McWilliams Arroyo (16-3, 14 KOs). It was a competitive fight. The judges handed down these lopsided scores: 119-109, 119-109, 120-108. The fight was closer than those scores. Arroyo was able to land a lot of left hooks in the fight, and did well in rounds 7, 8 and 12. There were a couple of other rounds that Arroyo fought well enough to win the rounds.

In the 4th, Arroyo lost the sole of his right shoe. The fight was competitive and interesting to watch up until that point. Gonzalez began to take control of the contest after the shoe incident. Arroyo came back to fight well in the 7th and 8th with his hard hooks he kept hitting Gonzalez with. Arroyo finished strong in the 12th round in teeing off with left hooks to the head of Gonzalez.

Gonzalez may need to rethink the idea of him moving up to super flyweight. I don’t think he has the size or the power to compete in that division against the best fighters. Gonzalez should try and stay at flyweight for as long as he can make the weight.